Spinning disc novelty apparatus

ABSTRACT

A novelty apparatus which includes .a rotationally symmetrical hollow body having an axis; a shaft having an axis and first and second axial extremities, the axis of the shaft being disposed in the rotationally symmetrical hollow body with the axis thereof disposed substantially coincident with the axis of the rotationally symmetrical body; first and second bearings disposed at axially spaced portions of the shaft and supporting the shaft for rotational movement about the axis thereof; a disc fixed to the shaft; and a motor for driving the shaft. Some forms of the novelty apparatus include a switch and battery for connection in series to the motor. Some forms include a housing having first and second discrete sections that are dimensioned and configured to be selectively coupled together to permit selective access to the interior of the housing for installation of a battery. The selectively coupled housing sections may include mating lips. The mating lips may include a lip on the first section overlapping a lip on the second section for selectively coupling the sections together to permit selective access to the interior of the housing for installation of a battery.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of provisional U.S. application 60/960,439 filed Sep. 28, 2007 having the same inventor.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention has particular application to methods and apparatus for entertainment and more specifically to toys.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The prior art includes a wide variety of toys including children's tops that are caused to rotate by a vertical shaft, having a helical exterior surface, that is pushed into a meshing bore in a generally cone shape body to cause the cone shape body to rotate.

Wikipedia reports:

-   -   “A top, or spinning top, is a toy that can be spun on an axis,         balancing on a point. The top is one of the oldest recognizable         toys found on archaeological sites. Besides toys, tops have also         historically been used for gambling and prophecy. Some         role-playing gamers still use tops to augment dice in generating         randomized results, it is in this case referred to as a Spinner.         A thumbtack may also be made to spin on the same principles.     -   The action of a top relies on the gyroscopic effect for its         operation. Typically the top will at first wobble until the         shape of the tip and its interaction with the surface force it         upright. After spinning upright for an extended period, the         angular momentum, and therefore the gyroscopic effect, will         gradually lessen, leading to ever increasing precession, finally         causing the top to topple in a frequently violent last thrash.     -   In recent years there have been many developments with the         technology of the top. Bearing tops, with a tip that spins, have         been one of the biggest changes. Fixed tip tops and bearing tops         are featured in National Championships in Chico, Calif. and in         the World Championships in Orlando, Fla.”

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novelty apparatus that will entertain, educate and arouse the curiosity of young and old.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus that is simple in construction as well as assembly.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus that can be manufactured inexpensively it has now been found that these and other objects of the present invention may be attained in a novelty apparatus which includes SPa rotationally symmetrical hollow body having an axis; a shaft having an axis and first and second axial extremities, the axis of the shaft being disposed in the rotationally symmetrical hollow body with the axis thereof disposed substantially coincident with the axis of the rotationally symmetrical body; first and second bearings disposed at axially spaced portions of the shaft and supporting the shaft for rotational movement about the axis thereof; a disc fixed to the shaft; and a motor for driving the shaft.

Some forms of the novelty apparatus include a switch and battery for connection in series to the motor. Some forms include a housing having first and second discrete sections that are dimensioned and configured to be selectively coupled together to permit selective access to the interior of the housing for installation of a battery. The selectively coupled housing sections may include mating lips. The mating lips may include a lip on the first section overlapping a lip on the second section for selectively coupling the sections together to permit selective access to the interior of the housing for installation of a battery.

The disk may be fixed to the shaft at a point closer to the axial extremity of the shaft that is lowest during normal operation of the apparatus. Similarly, the motor may be attached to the shaft at a point closer to the axial extremity of the shaft that is lowest during normal operation of the apparatus. In addition, the battery may be disposed closer to the axial extremity of the shaft that is lowest during normal operation of the apparatus than to the axial extremity of the shaft that is highest during normal operation of the apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a preferred form of the present invention having an exterior housing having a cross section which is substantially elliptical.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of another form of the exterior housing having a cross section which is substantially spherical and which illustrates schematically an embodiment having to discrete hemispheres and further illustrates schematically various interfaces coupling the concave faces of the respective discrete hemispheres in opposed relationship.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the wiring connecting a switch, and a battery and a motor in a preferred form of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1 there is shown a novelty toy assembly 10 in accordance with one form of the present invention. In this embodiment the exterior housing 12 has a cross section that is generally elliptical. Other forms of the present invention have an exterior housing 12 that is substantially spherical and thus will have an exterior housing that has a cross section that is substantially a circle. Embodiments of the present invention are particularly suited for use on the top surface of a table or alternatively floating in water such as the water in a bathtub. Accordingly, a spherical (or similar shape) outer housing will have a substantially point contact between the planar surface of a table. Thus, the utilization of a spherical or similar shape facilitates rotation of the outer housing about this point contact.

Similarly, the rotation of the outer housing 12 while floating in water is best achieved by avoiding turbulence in the body of water. Turbulence is minimized by the use of spherical or similar shapes as well as any shape that is rotationally symmetrical. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a cube, for example, would create substantial turbulence if rotated about any axis thereof in water.

A disk 14, ordinarily disposed in operation in substantially horizontal orientation (with the axis thereof disposed in substantially vertical orientation) is fixed to a shaft 16 having an axis that is ordinarily disposed in operation in substantially vertical orientation. In some embodiments the disk 14 will be fixed to the shaft 16 below the midpoint thereof. Ordinarily, location of the disk 14 near the midpoint of the shaft 16 will permit the use of a larger diameter disk 14 (because of the geometry of the housing 12) and this will increase the stability of the operating toy 10.

The shaft 16 is supported as the lower extremity (in normal operation thereof) by a combination bearing, motor and battery assembly 18. The bearing portion of this assembly supports the shaft 16 with a journal bearing in a preferred embodiment of the invention. The motor 19 portion of this assembly 18 is coupled to the shaft 16 to rotate the shaft 16 and thereby the disk 14. The motor 19 portion receives power from the battery 21 portion of the assembly 18. A preferred embodiment of invention utilizes a battery portion 21 that included two AA batteries. Ordinarily, typical direct current motors that operate from batteries operate at a much higher speed of rotation than is preferred for rotation of the disk 14. Thus, preferred embodiments utilize a gear train, in a manner well known by those skilled in the art, to reduce the rotational speed of the shaft 16 and thus the disk 14.

The upper axial extremity of the shaft 16 (in normal operation as well as viewed in the drawing) is supported by a bearing 20 that is a journal bearing in the preferred embodiment. Disposed proximate to the bearing 20 is a switch 22. The switch 22 is a single pole, 2 position push: the switch in a preferred embodiment. The position of the switch 22 at the top of the assembly 10 enables and facilitates operation of the switch 22 when the assembly 10 is in operation and its desired to stop the operation as well as up when the assembly is off and is desired to start the operation of the assembly 10.

To facilitate replacement of the batteries in the battery portion 21 various embodiments of the present invention will provide access to the interior of the outer housing 12. A preferred embodiment illustrated schematically in FIG. 2 utilizes an outer housing comprising a first hemisphere 24 and a second hemisphere 26. As shown in the drawing the first hemisphere 24 overlaps the second hemisphere 26 at the equator of the assembly of the first hemisphere 24 and the second hemisphere 26. The interface between the first hemisphere 24 and the second hemisphere 26 is shown schematically identified by the numeral 28. It will be understood that the interface will ordinarily extend 3600 around the equator of this assembly.

Various embodiments will utilize an interface 28 that includes frictional engagement, mating lips, male and female threads in other joining structure between the hemispheres 24, 26. Preferably, the interface 28 between the hemispheres 24, 26 will be waterproof because the apparatus 10 is intended for utilization in water in at least some cases. Still other embodiments of the present invention may utilize other battery mountings. For example, a preferred mountings that would position the battery to maintain the center of mass of the assembly 10 coincident with the shaft 16 and still avoid entry of water into the housing 12.

Preferably, the center of mass of the entire assembly 10 will not only be coincident with the shaft 16, it should also be nearer to the bottom of the assembly 10 than to the top of the assembly 10 to maximize stability. The mounting for the battery (holding the battery) may, for example, be a module that screws in to the bottom of the assembly 10. Such an assembly would eliminate the need for the seal at the equator of the apparatus.

Some embodiments of the present invention provide a framework within the housing 12 to support the bearing 20, the bearing portion of the combination bearing, motor and battery assembly 18. (that collectively support the shaft 16 and disc 14), the motor 19, and the battery 21. One such framework provides a first circular hoop fixed to the interior of the housing (not shown) in a first plane in addition to a second circular hoop fixed to the interior of the housing (not shown) in a second plane that is perpendicular to the first plane. An advantage of such embodiments is that the housing 12 may be fabricated of thinner material than embodiments that do not include this framework.

Ordinarily, the housing will be manufactured from transparent plastic material. Similarly, the shaft 16 and the disc 14 will also be plastic, however they will ordinarily be opaque.

In operation the user places the assembly 10 on a planar surface such as a tabletop or into a pool of water such as a bathtub full of water, depresses the push buttons switch 22 which causes the contacts thereof to connect power from the battery 21 to the motor 19. The motor 19 then drives the shaft 16 causing the attached disk 14 to rotate. This in turn causes the entire assembly to then rotate in the same direction as the direction of rotation of the disk 14. A phenomenon not fully understood is that when thereafter the switch 22 is operated to stop power from the battery 21 to the motor 19 the assembly will spontaneously and consistently begin to counter rotate. The counter rotation occurs as if a spring were being wound up during movement of the disk 14 by the motor 19. However, the apparatus has no such spring and there is no present an explanation for this phenomenon.

It will thus be seen that the described apparatus will provide much entertainment and education as well as stimulation of the users intellectual curiosity. Various embodiments will include artistic decoration and produce sounds which will further enhance the learning experience for users.

Although the description above contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention, but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. Thus, the scope of this invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents. Therefore, it will be appreciated that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art, and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly to be limited by the appended claims, in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one or more.” All structural, chemical, and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described preferred embodiment that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present invention, for it to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for.” 

1. A novelty apparatus which comprises: a rotationally symmetrical hollow body having an axis; a shaft having an axis and first and second axial extremities, said axis of said shaft being disposed in said rotationally symmetrical hollow body with the axis thereof disposed substantially coincident with the axis of said rotationally symmetrical body; first and second bearings disposed at axially spaced portions of said shaft and supporting said shaft for rotational movement about the axis thereof; a disc fixed to said shaft; and a motor for driving the shaft.
 2. A novelty apparatus as described in claim 1 further including a switch and battery for connected in series to said motor.
 3. A novelty apparatus as described in claim 1 further including a housing having first and second discrete sections that are dimensioned and configured to be selectively coupled together to permit selective access to the interior of said housing for installation of a battery.
 4. A novelty apparatus as described in claim 1 further including a housing having first and second discrete sections that are dimensioned and configured with mating lips to be selectively coupled together to permit selective access to the interior of said housing for installation of a battery.
 5. A novelty apparatus as described in claim 1 further including a housing having first and second discrete sections that are dimensioned and configured with a lip on said first section overlapping a lip on said second section for selectively coupling said sections together to permit selective access to the interior of said housing for installation of a battery.
 6. A novelty apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein said disk is fixed to said shaft at a point closer to the axial extremity of said shaft that is lowest during normal operation of said apparatus.
 7. A novelty apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein said motor is attached to said shaft at a point closer to the axial extremity of said shaft that is lowest during normal operation of said apparatus.
 8. A novelty apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein said battery is disposed closer to the axial extremity of said shaft that is lowest during normal operation of said apparatus than to the axial extremity of said shaft that is highest during normal operation of said apparatus. 